When I do, they rip open my shirt from left to right.
Another jolt is applied to my nipples, and I hiss from the sharp sensation.
Someone laughs, probably a Phantom, and I wonder if it’s Apollo, and if he enjoys sexually taunting me.
More jolts are applied to other pledges, and some cry out in pain.
“Does it hurt?” someone yells.
“Yes!” one pledge says.
“No,” I reply.
More jolts are applied, and I wish I hadn’t said anything.
“Enough to make you want to quit?”
I shake my head, waiting for the next electrical current that never comes.
Suddenly, a spray of icy-cold water hits us in the face, and I splutter to keep it out of my mouth. The water doesn’t stop until we’re soaked and shivering in place.
Something is scooted underneath my knees, and I fall right onto a chair.
Someone binds something to my legs and arms, keeping them tightly secured to the chair.
Did Apollo lie to me?
Is this an initiation? Or an excuse for torture?
A bucket is placed under my feet, and my shoes and socks are ripped off, while my feet are placed in water that feels like it was meant to boil a crustacean.
“Does it hurt enough?” someone else asks.
“Please, make it stop,” a pledge begs.
I don’t respond.
My head is tilted back, and a big splash of icy water is dumped over my head before I’m hosed down from the front with hot water. The alternating temperatures makes it feel like I’m burning.
Someone screams into my face, “How much pain will you endure for the Phantoms?”
“As much as it takes,” I respond, trying to keep my sanity.
I can hear them throw the water over someone else’s head while I shiver in silence.
When everyone’s had their turn, someone shoves my head back, and a knife is pushed underneath my chin.
“Are you willing to die for the Phantoms?”
The knife inches closer and closer, nearly cutting into me.
“Yes.”
The knife coaxes out the blood before it finally leaves my neck, and the one next to me is threatened instead.
One of the guys breaks. “No, no, no, this isn’t what I signed up for. Get me out of here.”
He jerks the ropes and tries to get up, and I can hear some shit going down, but I can’t fucking see.
